• Colorado State University

Positive Parenting After Separation

Get practical help and advice on parenting after a divorce or separation with this online course.

2,221 enrolled on this course

  • Duration

    4 weeks
  • Weekly study

    3 hours

Learn how to meet the needs of children affected by separation

Millions of children worldwide are being raised in families in which their parents are no longer together due to separation or divorce. These family circumstances can be hard for children, particularly when their parents are struggling to co-parent.

In this course you will learn practical techniques for parenting after separation and understand how to meet the needs of children affected by difficult separations and divorces.

Download video: standard or HD

What topics will you cover?

  • Healthy parenting before and after relationship dissolution
  • The parental relationships before and after relationship dissolution
  • Problematic issues in post-relationship parenting
  • Social and institutional interventions to post-relationship parenting problems

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Identify how parent-child attachments are formed and maintained, the developmental needs of a child, and healthy family role boundaries before and after relationship dissolution
  • Identify how parental modeling of adult (and gender) roles affects children and family dynamics, how parenting styles affect outcomes on children
  • Evaluate the difference between parental alienation, estrangement and other negative family problems
  • Explore how different legal and social systems have handled relationship dissolution (e.g., divorce), family conflict, and custody issues to address post-relationship parenting problems.

Who is the course for?

This course is for those who are experiencing or have experienced a dissolution of marriage and/or a separation of a partnership that involved children.

Who will you learn with?

I am an associate professor of social psychology at Colorado State University. My areas of research are related to power and aggression in relationships, and on promoting healthier families.

Who developed the course?

Colorado State University

Colorado State University, a land-grant institution and a Carnegie Doctoral/Research University-Extensive, is one of the United States’ leading research universities.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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